Howdy pals, taking my spyglass off nets for a moment to look around
for nuggets at the farther perimeter of Internet Central
from utilities to oils to shipping...some sectors don't tie in with internet but most do. Utilities don't much yet but looky that may be about to change.... Noticing utilities...for the reason why, look at the news on CD (Cendant) for instance (CD is making a deal on which utilities to choose to use for its franchise operations). Wonder what kind of huge electricity bills come to AOL, MSFT, IBM, etc. Deregulation is coming soon - read all about it in the stuff they send with the utilities bills - and so Utilities will soon have a big opportunity to post all kinds of good and bad news about themselves to attract interest. ENE (Enron), PEG (Public Service of NJ), and NMK (Niagra Mohawk) are at 52 week (which means all time) highs and PE (PECO Energy), ED (Con Edison), and El Paso (just bought a big stake in India Power) and others are near these highs. Most of these stocks give a nice dividend % which is lower lately as share prices have risen. ENE is the deal-maker in the middle of the coming deregulations; which means one can choose which energy provider to use (Not to be confused with EOG which owns natural gas fields & pipes not a bad deal either). Noticing there is NO MENTION of this sector and what's soon to come lately in the news makes my antennae give a twitch...look at all the news under the power tickers and there's still not much said about deregulations. Once it becomes a news issue, and it will, well some won't be so cheap anymore, some will merge, and some will fall.
And Oil keeps going down and down. Gas prices up, Oils up, market down. Gold up, market down. Utilities up, market down (remember '96? Hong Kong back to Chinese? At that time Utilities went up because of deregulation hearings though not implemented) and newsblubberers took that opportunity to escalate the rush to exits from growth stocks and techs by saying investors were seeking a safe haven in safe dividend yielding stocks like utilities (not mentioning even higher yielding Dow Dogs of course as they weren't going anywhere at that time).
As the Old Folks say "Don't Ignore the Oils, Utilities, and Golds".
Tech/Nets have all this a bit askew, and methinks the focus on our pet sector has become something that's to their advantage lately as the rises and volatility in it dwarfs all others by comparison. I guess aside from ours, whats coming next is financials, utilities, and meds on the split parade and merger list headlines. And could oils/gas prices possibly stay this low forever? If gasoline up and/or becomes scarce, what effect does that have on mfgs & all the market? Nets & puters too...dependent as most all are (after all puter Co. are mfgs. and nets are sellers) on energy and shipping.
Speaking of, been hearing so often lately of UPS and Fedex and these shippers being a big sideplay of internet shopping....does internet really add more layers to shipping As Is? Retail now is; mfgs. ship to central warehouse of store chain or to the stores themselves most usually by private trucking or maybe UPS if load is not huge...with Internet: mfg. ships either to central warehouse/order processing building of, say, Amazon or more usually orders are shipped directly from the seller to the customer same way as many of the catalog sellers now have it arranged with suppliers. The catalog Co. (order by mail, phone, or online) wouldn't change the way it's shipped out just because the order comes in via the internet. The way the catalog co's run things would be the model for the online sellers basic operations. Like AARP Prescription Phone Orders would be the model for the way Drugstore.com will do business; only difference is, email forms aren't chatty so it would be more efficient = better profits.
It seems the way it will change, is there will be less private trucking/boxcars of big shipments to central warehouses/retail stores and more shipments to homes direct from mfgs. via postal, UPS, Fedex. So what about the trains? No longer being so much supported by boxcar shipping by mfgs., they either/and 1) Revive as passenger transports 2)Coordinate and Align themselves better with the likes of UPS, Fedex, US Postal, and Airports. 3) Sadly, go the way of the dinosaur (Nah, IMHO needs of National Defense and energy conservation would eliminate extinction option).
Leap to the future + back to the past = Economies of Scale.
Economies Of Scale Is The Nugget, as Tech/Net Consolidates All.
Back 2 Bidniss, Have A Great Day,
Joanie |
